Florida will be the Columbus replacement; Boston will be the Blues and Toronto will be the Hawks (rivalry-speaking)

I'm predicting that we'll see the other 7 division opponents 5 times each season (35 games), which leaves 47 games remaining for the 22 other teams, enough for a home and home with every other out-of-division opponent.

Or you could do 4 games against the other 7 division opponents (28 games), 3 games against the 8 teams of the other eastern division (24 games), 30 games against the remaining 14 teams, enough for a home and home with the West fellas.

The playoff format they came up with, before it got turned down, was the top 4 teams of each division will make the playoffs (1st and 2nd rounds are inter-division), then the 3rd round will be against the winner of the other Eastern division, and the Finals will be East vs West.

Not all, but unfortunately many Chicago sports fans can be complete a$$holes...If ya don't believe me - just show up in your Red Wings jersey at the United Center the next time the 2 rivals meet.

I do it every year....and its as pleasant as you say it is. My wife and I were walking to our seats a couple years ago before the game started and as we moved into our row, we were greeted with "f*** You, f*** You, f*** You."

Drives me nuts that I'll never be able to take my daughter there simply because I won't expose her to an environment like that.

I want realignment badly, but (a) I'm not getting too excited about any one plan, given what happened to the 2011 plan; and (b) I'm not sure I like a lot of the proposals that put us in with a bunch of "Eastern" teams.

The argument that the Red Wings shouldn't be in the "West" has merit, but if you look at a map of the franchises, so do the arguments that would keep us there. I'm also privy to another angle on this debate, living in Minnesota. Wild fans here are convinced that they have it the worst in the league right now (well, except for Winnipeg's temporary arrangement) because they are a Central timezone team that exclusively plays teams in Pacific/Mountain timezones. They also rack up a ton of travel heading out to Vancouver, and 3 of their 4 division opponents are Canadian, which probably causes more issues with customs, etc.

On the other hand, look at a map of the U.S., and Minnesota is basically dead in the middle of it. Detroit, meanwhile has a ton of in-conference games with a three-hour time difference, and a large amount of travel. Those games are as late as 10:30pm starts in the D, whereas the latest a Wild game can start is 9:30pm.

I liked the original realignment proposal because kept us in with Midwest teams like Chicago and Minnesota, and would prevent us from ending up on the West Coast for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Anybody over the age of 25 probably recalls all those playoff series against San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles in the 90's/early 2000's, those late starts were pretty brutal (and they frequently went to overtime).

But as much tradition as Montreal, Toronto, and Boston have, I just don't feel a strong connection to playing those teams as a Wings fan. Granted, nobody really wants to have a "rivalry" with towns like Columbus or Nashville, but that argument would apply to any team equally. Long story short, I'm not so sure that I do want to trade CHI, MIN, and STL for BOS, TOR, and MTL

anyone els gunna miss kicking the s*** out of the Blue Jackets every season??

You mean, like we are doing this season?

DAN WHATEVER YOUR f****** NAME IS CLEAR OR CLEARLY GET THE f*** OUT OF THIS TEAM BACK GO f****** LEARN TO PLAY MORON I PERSONALY DON'T GIVE A s*** THAT YR LEG IS f***ET UP, PLEASE LIIVE. ANF BABCOCK PLEASE GET READ OF OUR QUINESSSSSSYYYYY HOLLAND YOU JUST HIT THE JUCK f****** POTT!

If being put in a division/conference with Toronto, Montreal and Boston, I would be happy with it. Although I would definately miss Chicago and St. Louis. We've had some memorable games and playoff series over the years. Since we'll play 44 games against teams outside of our division, and if we play each team inside 5 times, maybe with the extra 3 games we could use those against "old" divison teams. I guess now we'll see if Columbus and Nashville can make on their own. And with the realignment, I may even get my season tickets again.

Long story short, I'm not so sure that I do want to trade CHI, MIN, and STL for BOS, TOR, and MTL

I can see your point. We've been rivals and division opponents for 30 years(Except of course the time Minnesota moved to Dallas). The Norris Division years were great, but being in my 50s, I can also remember being in a division with Montreal in the late 70s. I'm kind of torn myself, but for me, getting away from Columbus and Nashville is a good thing. The history of the Detroit franchise was used to get them started, now it's time for them to sink or swim on their own.

Looks fine on that map. Might somehow block the amount of injuries we get annually. There must be some secret medical club at the Wings that kicks ass, and that's why the players are injured all the time.

I'd much rather keep Chicago San Jose Vancouver and Colorado than lose them and gain Boston and Montreal. Thats really all I'd look forward to seeing in this promotion. Tampa Bay is ok I guess, buffalo is pretty meh, and Toronto doesn't do anything for me.

The saying used to go..."where is the best place to get tickets to a Wings game"? answer..."United Center".

I love now that the Hawks have a good team that everyone forgets their history...no broadcast TV...the Eric Daze and Alexei Zhamnov years...they were named Worst Franchise in Sports by ESPN in 2004, they straight up sucked from 1998 to recently when they got all those great lottery draft picks. Like Pittsburgh as well.

Red Wing history is not always spectacular either, but that was late 70's, early 80's. And now they say. Oh, now that they aren't that good, they run to the other conference? I guess they are tired of being a doormat for the last 20 years. We helped them get those Top 3 picks. You're welcome.

For the Wings to play in the East, they will have to get bigger, stronger, and more physical that is for sure. You think we have a lot of injuries now, just wait of we move East and the roster doesn't change...